Comments

Entourage Season 8-07 ‘Second To Last’ Recap

Vincent Chase is a really good dude. Vincent Chase loves and respects women. Vincent Chase will do anything for a friend. You will be repeating these phrases after watching the seventh installment of the final season of Entourage.

The episode starts off with Vinny and company putting on a PR blitz for the reporter who wrote a less than savory article in Vanity Fair about the movie star. Vince seems to have a serious problem with the largely misogynistic angle the reporter used in the article, and is doing as much damage control as possible, starting with a compilation video with a bunch of former flames saying how nice and caring Aquaman really is. The boys consider this project a little extreme, but hey, you cannot bite the hand that feeds, so they just go with it, as usual.

After wrapping up production, Turtle goes to check out sites for the future Don Pepe’s restaurant he is trying to get built and Drama and Vince decide that they ARE going to get the miner TV movie made, no matter what. Vince calls Ari who is buttoning up after another fling with Dana. His divorce has been taking a toll on his work and Vince lets him know, giving him an ultimatum on getting the movie deal finalized.

E goes back to work and has a confrontation with Scott about his ongoing soap opera with Sloan, Melinda and their newest client, Johnny Galecki, who is supposedly dating E’s former fiance. Scott is worried that E will ruin a high potential upside with Galecki, who seems to be close to a very lucrative deal that will make the agency a ton of money. Even knowing this fact, E does not really care and just wants Galecki to stay away from the girl he is obviously still in love with.

Turtle ends up going to a site the Delucas picked for mostly sentimental reasons, not considering for a second the cost of the real estate. Turtle obviously has an issue with this and would need to come up with a lot more money to afford such an upgrade from what he was originally considering. The Delucas refuse to give in, saying it is that space or nothing.

Without many options left, Turtle does the only thing he really can do and calls some of the other investors to try and get more money. After speaking with Mark Teixeira, Amare Stoudemire, and everyone’s least favorite athlete ever, Alex Rodriguez, Turtle is unable to procure more financing and begins to think that this will all fall apart soon.

Meanwhile, Drama continues the PR blitz by bringing the video to Sophia, the reporter. He makes a heartfelt, misty-eyed proclamation of the inherent goodness of Vince Chase, letting her know how important he is to everyone around him.

Elsewhere, Ari finally makes some moves on the miner script, which actually made him cry while reading it. He lets the television department know that Vince is standing by Drama’s side on this one, and Ari is standing by both of them. Meaning: get this deal done, no matter what. The nepotism is palpable in this episode.

Fortunately, the script is making everyone cry and should be an easy sell. Unfortunately, they need to go through Phil Yagoda to get it done. With Drama’s refusal to buckle during his and Dice’s mini-strike on the set of Johnny Bananas, Phil is not a huge fan of his, and does not want him for the part.

Ari and Vince end up forcing their way into his office and talk some sense into him. And by sense, we mean Vince offered to give 100 grand to Yagoda’s favorite charity in order for Drama to get the go ahead. Now THAT is a good brother!

E is still making it difficult for himself by continuing to sleep with Melinda. But, after a phone call from Turtle, who has spied Sloan eating lunch with Galecki, E decides to confront them and a very dysfunctional interaction ensues with everyone becoming even angrier than before. Not only does Sloan walk out, but Galecki fires E. The little man cannot seem to do anything right at this point.

The second time we see Ari with Dana, the agent finally comes to the realization that he still loves his wife, and does not really think things will work out. Dana, being the hyper-rational studio head, takes this in stride and lets Ari go.

Turtle has a nausea inducing realization that Avion has just gone public, consequently making him understand how much money he lost from pulling his money out early. At around the same time, Sophia calls Turtles phone on accident trying to get a hold of Vince, which he uses to his advantage by repeating what Johnny said, telling her how good a guy Vince is. It seems to finally work this time and Sophia finally acquiesces and decides to meet him for drinks.

Vince comes home right after this and Turtle tells Vince the good news (Sophia) and the bad news (Avion). Vince uses his superior thespian skills to act surprised about Avion, but then drops the bombshell that he never took his (or Turtle’s) money out, and that Turtle is now a millionaire. What a smart and financially savvy friend!

At the end of the episode, we see E has followed Sloan home and he professes his love for her while apologising about everything that has happened recently. Then the big news happens. Sloan tells E she is pregnant (with E’s child) and is still moving to New York without him. Roll credits.

So, quite a bit happened this week, and I actually think this is the best episode yet. It brought some of the excellent dialogue the show is known for and all the characters were on point and quite funny. The storylines have finally been fully fleshed out and all of the boys are in interesting situations that make us curious to see how they play out.

Naturally, after watching this episode, I like Vince more now than I ever have, due to the fact that he came across like a Mother Theresa who can do no wrong. I am officially rooting for him to get together with Sophia. It seems not only Vince, but the writers of the show are trying to separate themselves from the misogynist reputation they have had since, basically, the shows premiere. I don’t think it’s necessary, considering this IS Entourage, but at least they did it in an entertaining way, using Vince as the platform.

As for the cameos, Mark Teixeira looked like he prepared for this role like Daniel Day Lewis would have, and did a surprisingly good job compared to other athletes that have been on the show. Keep A-Rod away though, please.

Unfortunately Ari may be going back to the devil woman, which sucks. but the news Sloan dropped on E is further evidence that we will see them back together. I think there’s a possibility that E will follow her to New York in the season finale next week.

Again, best episode yet, and I can finally say, unlike the last few episodes, that I am excited to see what happens next week in the finale. It is crunch time, let’s hope the boys can end this epic series on a high note.